Have you heard the one about the guy running for his life from mildly retarded hillbillies after his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere? No, I’m not talking about The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, Cabin Fever, the six Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies or Wolf Creek. I’m talking about the French one. No, not Frontier(s), the other French one.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) has spawned 3 sequels, a prequel, a remake and so many cheap knock-offs that the “mad hillbilly” formula (as Octo put it) has become a sub-genre unto its own. Calvaire isn’t nearly as terrifying as most of the above mentioned movies but it stands out nevertheless.
The victim in this tale is Marc Stevens, a handsome and conceited entertainer touring nursing homes across Belgium to share his terrible voice with the world. After the predictable van breakdown he is rescued by Boris, a dim witted local yokel searching for his missing dog. Boris (eventually) leads Marc to a shabby hotel where he is introduced to the innkeeper, a tragic shell of a man. Life hasn’t been the same for Bartel since his promiscuous wife left him years ago. By the time Marc discovers the true depths of Bartel’s mental illness he is in deep, deep shit.
Initially I found Calvaire underwhelming. I was jonesing for the horror rush I received last year from French films like Inside, Frontier(s) and *eye flutter* Martyrs. Its failure to jar me the way those did left me indignantly disappointed. (Well I never!) Curiously, as a couple of weeks passed I found myself harping and wigging out about a couple of unsavory (to put it mildly) incidents that Marc goes through during his “ordeal”. All in all I wouldn’t call this a must see but if you’re in the mood for something focusing on delusions and psychological torture then you could do far worse.
7 comments:
I watched this too and have been sitting on my review for a couple of weeks as well. My experience was quite different from yours. I've been putting it off because I'm not sure how to write it without giving away too much. I think I'll have to keep it brief and leave most of my observations out. At least now I don't have to write a summary. Hooray for piggybacking!
Catfreeek reviewed this last year. Once you're done reading the 15 reviews that were posted in the past 5 minutes you should check the monster list although she revealed more than I did.
i'll only watch this one if they remake it with either tommy wiseau or david hasselhoff as the lead character.
Hahaha, AC! I'm with you. When they make that, let's watch it together.
I gave it the same rating as you but I'm not sure if it's for the same reasons. I do always enjoy a Johnny Sweatpants review though.
it's a date, dcd! :)
Whirlygirl discussed this film with me a few weeks ago and I've been intrigued ever since. You seem to have a somewhat less favorable review. I need to check this out. I'll re-read Cat's review after I watch it - she tends to be a bit of a spoiler =)
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